Question

Topic: Copywriting

How Long To Compose 30 Second Radio Spots?

Posted by vpcontentmanagement.obr on 2/26/2011 at 11:22 PM ET 250 Points
Needing to know how long we can expect it to take to write 30 second radio spots. How many can be written within 1 hours time? Will are requesting the use o sound effects where appropriate.

Copywriters will be supplied with information from our clients from which to write the ads for their products/services/businesses, but the need to ask a question or two of our clients could arise.

Since we are looking to hire freelancers and will pay an hourly rate, it is important that we are able to determine at least a ball park figure as to how many 30 second spots are most likely to be written/hour.

I was told by a journalist one 30 second spot could be written every 6 minutes, which means 10 ads could be written in an hour. I'm wondering how accurate this is and how realistic it is to expect a copywriter to spit one high quality 30 second spot out after another and still have each one be fresh and new.

Broad categories will include travel, finance, business, health and wellness, lifestyle, fashion and beauty, teen, and arts with many subcategories in each.

Any and all answers to this question would be greatly appreciated. We begin hiring on Monday and need answers before we can do so.

Would like to obtain answers that come as accurate as possible so if more information is needed, please let me know.

Many thanks to all who reply.

Grateully yours,
Meryl
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 2/27/2011 at 3:07 AM Member
    Meryl - unless the journalist you spoke to has actually witnessed a copywriter produce something in one hour, I would doubt it.

    If he has, ask him for contact details!

    The copywriter function isn't like a journalist's. The copywriter has to know all about the product and why it's special, then go through the separate stages of the sale process to convince the listeners to respond. As the copywriter is measured on sales success, he acts more as a partner to your business, not really just a 'freelance'.

    Anything that is produced too quickly will ruin you all.

    If I were you, I would talk to an advertising agency. If the ads are direct response then go to a DM agency. Ask them the basic questions and you'll have the basis of what to ask for in your discussions with copywriters.

    Radio advertising is a really specialised business. The ones I have commissioned cost a lot, but launched a great magazine.

    Hope that helps with the way to proceed,

    Peter
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 2/27/2011 at 12:22 PM Accepted
    these take much longer than anyone would imagine.

    a little breakdown:
    A thirty second ad runs (roughly 85-100 words).
    Your journalist friend has a person writing 600 words per hour. (6 x 100 words).
    This is probably ok for the straight ahead journalism "who, what, where" found on page 3 of your local paper.

    Writing ads is different. Writing, wordsmithing, listening to the rhythum of the words, adding power words, this takes time. I would say a really good person could average one great one per hour. Maybe they crank out a series of related messages at 2 per hour.

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 2/27/2011 at 3:07 PM Accepted
    Dear Meryl,

    How shall I put this? Your "journalist friend" is an idiot.

    True, this person might be a perfectly "nice" person,
    but the fact that this person THINKS that simply because they are a writer, and that ads are written, and that because they can crank out lord knows how many words per hour and that a copywriter ought to therefore be able to write a set number of words PER HOUR is laughable ... and, for your purposes, INCREDIBLE DANGEROUS!

    If you listen to this person and act on his or her advice YOU WILL FAIL and your 30 second radio spots WILL SUCK.

    Contracting a copywriter to work PER HOUR, with
    that person's pay based on his or her OUTPUT is
    wooly minded, preposterous, and damaged thinking.

    If you were charged by a restaurant per hour instead of per dish, you'd probably wind up with an ulcer. If your dentist charged you per hour, you'd be leaving their surgery with half a tooth filled and no pain medication.

    Here in New Jersey the mid point for a freelance copywriter to write an ad for radio is $72 per hour.

    That's the average.

    But you need a writer that knows how to write radio ads (and many don't), you need to let the writer write, and you need a production team that knows what the hell its doing. Leave out any of these key points and your results will stink to high heaven.

    Radio advertising, DONE WELL, can change businesses for the better. Radio advertising DONE BADLY, can run a business into the ground.

    Radio ads don't just need a well written script that grips and entertains, they need frequency and reach (meaning, how often ads are aired, who hears them, and how often those people hear those ads). Then, you need to figure out how you'll measure the effectiveness of those ads (sales, visits to websites, calls to your 800 number, butts on seats).

    Writing ads is NOT an expense, nor is it something that can be done against the clock on a dollars for hours basis. It's an investment. You'll get out of your ads only what you put into them.

    Gary Bloomer
    The Direct Response Marketing Guy™
    Princeton, NJ, USA





  • Posted on 2/27/2011 at 5:47 PM Accepted
    Writing a good :30 second radio spot should take anywhere from a day or two to a week (or more). It depends on how good the Creative Brief is and and how much experience the copywriter has.

    An experienced copywriter, working from a very carefully prepared Creative Brief, will probably want a few days to consider and tweak the output before submitting it for production. My suggestion would be to spend your time on, and direct your effort toward, preparing a solid Creative Brief.

    Also, the copywriter probably won't spend full-time for a week creating the spot(s). It's more like a few hours each day ... perhaps a total of 10 hours. Paying for this by the hour is not the best approach. It just costs you more if the copywriter is inefficient. Get a firm price quote up-front, and make sure you're dealing with an experienced professional who has done this before.

    The journalist's estimate of something less than an hour is absurd -- unless you don't care whether the ad is effective or not. The time isn't how much time it takes to type 80 words; it's understanding the communications objective and figuring out how to best get the idea across -- before typing anything.
  • Posted by vpcontentmanagement.obr on 3/1/2011 at 2:58 AM Author
    Thanks to everyone who responded. You each had something of value to say and each and every one of you confirmed what I already knew... to expect a spot to be written in 6 minutes is insanity.

    As Peter, Frank, Gary and Randall have said, the function of a copywriter and a journalist are NOT the same and for all the stated reasons. I do have some copywriting knowledge myself-- albeit slight -- and when I mentioned to the person for whom I am working that to follow the journalist's guidelines would be what I consider counterproductive, I was voted down and told it could be done by anyone professional who had the necessary experience.

    Now, being a slower writer (but not inefficient) who has mostly written to promote my own massage business, and realizing, as Peter said, that radio advertising is really a specialized business, I did begin to doubt myself so I turned to all of you to confirm whether or not what I was sure had to be true actually was, and that's exactly what you did.

    What lbwalker contributed about facts and bullet points and doing a disservice to clients will serve well to pass on to the person I am working for.

    What I find most helpful is mgoodman's advice about supplying the copywriters with carefully prepared briefs. I agree with this and will do everything I can to make sure these are supplied in more than ample detail. I also found the point about understanding the communications objective extremely helpful and will share this, too, with my employer.

    As Randall pointed out, one spot won't do it, but we are not offering one spot time. I will pass on to my employer the importance of having the spots tell the complete story.

    By the way, Gary, we are in NJ, too -- Hunterdon County. We have found the area rate to average out to about $75.00/hour.

    I agree with you all about paying by the piece and not by time, but the decision is not mine to make. I, too, think this direction is a big mistake, but the person I am working for does not see it that way at present. Hopefully, my sharing with her the comments all of you made will cause her to pause and consider going in a different direction.
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